A review by jvanfleet
La maison d'à côté by Anne Rivers Siddons

4.0

A mostly-effective gothic, what works best in Siddons’ well-regarded novel is the care she gives in developing the lead / narrator. Colquitt, a woman who opens with insistences of her own disinterest in caring for other people and emphasis on her own modest superficial pleasures, gradually falls into horrid fascination with how the house next door corrupts its owners. Which leads to involvement and an increasing empathy on the readers’ part. Siddons also smartly gives us a rotating cast of homeowners, which gives the novel an anthology spirit. Less effective is the persistent feeling of arms-length distance to the horror of the house. It being “next door” and all, the novel chooses to emphasize tragedy over visceral terror, but that left me feeling a touch cold.

Overall, more than worth the read!